Public Health - 3.1

Question 1

public health

Answer 1

the health of the population as a whole especially as monitored and promoted by the state

Question 2

population changes

Answer 2

• between 1781 and 1871, the population of Britain grew to over 31 million
• population was also moving to growing towns and cities to take advantage of new job opportunities
• in 1801 about 33 per get of people lived in town by 1891 it was over 70 per cent (by 1900 4/5 were burn dwellers)
• population increases was most rapid in the years 1811-1841

Question 3

why did death rate fall?

Answer 3

• the medical industry producing vaccinations such as smallpox that had killed so many
• the agricultural industry produced food of better quantity and quality
• chemical industry produced soap (cheap and readily available) enabling cleanliness standards to improve
• the textile industry produced cotton cloth that was cheap to buy and easy to wash allowing people to keep clean

Question 4

why did birth rate rise?

Answer 4

• fewer people dying when young meant that people survived to their 20s/30s to have children
• move babies lived to adulthood meaning that their generation too would also have more children and so on

Question 5

why did marriage rates rise?

Answer 5

• in rural areas, farmers employed fewer live-in servants. it was therefore easier for men and women agricultural labourers to begin a life together and marry earlier
• in industrial areas, unskilled workers were placing skilled craftsmen who had to work a seven year apprenticeship. therefore industrial workers could marry soon as they had a job or even without
• earlier marriages in the days before contraception meant more babies.

Question 6

what did civil registration show?

Answer 6

• previous parish records had become unreliable due to an increasingly mobile population and nonconformity
• of births deaths and marriages introduced in 1837
• revealed a young and fertile, actively producing population
• urban population had a continually higher birth rate than death rate
• in Manchester in the 1840s, 57 per cent of kids died before their fifth birthday

Question 7

William farr

Answer 7

• chief statistician at the Office of the Registrar genera
• insisted that doctors recorded the cause of death not just the fact of death
• Farr was able to produce invaluable statistics to public health reformers using his positions to advocate it himself
• had been a believer of miasma theory but the 1966 cholera outbreak convinced him it was water-borne.

Question 8

impact of industrialisation on housing

Answer 8

• influx of thousands of people into towns forced many into informal substandard living conditions
• led to explosion of victorian filth towns where diseases like Typhoid and even measles became epidemics
• adapted vacant living spaces and the by building dwellings which were built in grids at rapid speeds
• cellars and attics housed multiple families
• Engles created a vivid impression of industrial towns but also revealed a new development as before the rich and poor lived close together but without affordable public transport the WC now had to live near mills/factories whilst the MC moved out
• no building regulations so poor housing quality

Question 9

impact of industrialisation of sanitation

Answer 9

• lack of services no matter how overcrowded it was (most houses lacked drainage, sewage and water supply)
• privies were emptied into a cesspit cleaned out by ‘Night Soil Men’ selling it to local farmers
• middle classes would have flushing toilets or ash privvie
• water was expensive and in short supply. the supply was controlled by vested interests by private water companies (most commonly came from local rivers despite some coming from reservoirs)
• clean water was supplied by a communal standpipe.

Question 10

miasma

Answer 10

• link between dirt and disease so turned to believe bad air or smells caused it
• believed that disease was present in it as suspended minute particles of decaying matter invisible to the naked eye (poisonous air)
• the answer was therefore to clean the streets and improve sanitation meaning PH would automatically improve.

Question 11

Germ theory

Answer 11

• development of the microscope by Lister in 1830 with a 1000 time magnification without distortion enabled observation of micro-organisms on rotting food
• first idea was that the decaying material created microorganisms the other was that microorganisms were attracted to decaying material
• in 1860, Pasteur conducted a series of experiments that proved micro-organisms were in the area and not created by decaying material
• this was proved by Koch in 1854 and by 1880/90s he had identified the germs that caused most killer diseases

Question 12

typhus

Answer 12

• epidemics in 1837 and 1839, an outbreak in 1847 killed 10,000 people in the NW England alone.
• spread by eating or drinking contaminated water
• approximately 100,000 people died form it in the nineteenth century

Question 13

typhoid

Answer 13

• bacterial infection due to a specific type of salmonella
• weakness, abdominal pain, constipation, headaches
• symptoms tend to start 6-30 days after exposure, gradual onset
• spread by eating or drinking contaminated food. now there is vaccination

Question 14

tuberculosis

Answer 14

• many believed a predisposition to TB was a women’s attractiveness (upper class) as it enhanced what was thought to be beautiful in a woman (thinness, weight loss and pale skin)
• therefore in 1790-1850 there was an increasing aestheticization that became intertwined with feminine beauty impacting perceptions especially in fashion
• many believed it was genetic or miasma, Koch proved otherwise spread through airborne transmission
• by the dawn of the nineteenth century, TB had killed 1/7 adults
• long dresses were though to sweep up germs and corsets limit lung/blood movement so elastic health corsets were made.

Question 15

when were the cholera outbreaks

Answer 15

• 1831-32
• 1848-49
• 1853-54
• 1866
• first killed 31000 the second 62000
• 40-60% of those contracting it died

Question 16

cholera riots

Answer 16

• 30 recorded cholera riots in towns and cities throughout Britain
• Liverpool riots were the worst, there were 8 street riots between May and June 1832. The rioters weren’t protesting against the disease but rather the local medical men
• people believed cholera patents were taken to hospitals and doubtlessly murdered to provide bodies for dissection
• in 1826, 33 bodies had been found in the Liverpool docks ready to be shipped to Scotland for dissection and William Gill has been found guilt of grave robbing
• in Exeter rioters objected to the burial of cholera victims in local graveyards. victims were being buried hastily, possible before they were dead and with our proper religious ceremony
• created political and social unrest and so pressure on political to reform

Question 17

government action to the cholera riots

Answer 17

• in 1832, the government had sent two medical commissions to St Petersburg where there had been an outbreak of cholera. Their report led to a temporary board of health was quickly set up including individuals such as the director of the army medical department; Royal college physicians etc
• the board of health advised local government areas to set up their own local boards of health, suggesting they should include magistrates, clergymen, some householders and one or more medical men
• appointed district inspectors to report on the food, clothing and ventilation of poor dwellings

Question 18

what advise did the Board of health give about cholera

Answer 18

• houses were to be whitewashed and limed and all infected furniture and clothing was to be fumigated
• people with cholera were to be put in strict quarantine
• food and flannel clothing were to be distributed to the poor
• temporary fever hospitals were to be set up
• there wasn’t an apt understanding about what caused cholera and so a range of remedies were suggested
• some areas set up cholera hospitals and some inspectors submitted repots but measures tended to be hit and miss
• first time that government was officially recognising that cleanliness clothing and water were necessary factors in public health, Chadwick later shifted the emphasis to water supply

Question 19

issues with government response to cholera

Answer 19

• the advice given wasn’t the law and so legality became a problem
• in 1832 ‘Cholera Acts’ were passed which allowed local authorities to enforce some measures. Even so, local action was haphazard and local boards were temporary

Question 20

what were the alleged causes of cholera?

Answer 20

• the contagonist theory suggested that cholera spread by contact with local victims yet this was disputed as not everyone in the same household fell in
• miasmic theory suggested that cholers was spread by infected air and so treatment involved removing heaps of excrement
• patent medicines grew and multiplied in number. all claimed to cure cholera (e.g. Moxon’s effervescent universal mixture)
• prayer was recommended by all the main Christian churches
• it wasn’t until the 1850s when it was proven to be waterborne that treatment changed

Question 21

the moral and physical condition of the working classes of Manchester

Answer 21

1832

• cholera hit the city on the 17th May 1832 and a board of health was set up, with Dr James Kay as its secretary to coordinate the work of the city’s 14 district boards.
• kay personally visited each area, his findings forming the basis if his report
• one of the first detailed reports of a specific group of working class people and one of the first to demonstrate a connection between dirt and disease (dirt and diet was shown to affect WC health)
• he also addresses like most 19th century writers the moral conditions of the poor
• important for the information it contained but also because it set the scene for later investigations and reform

Question 22

James Kay other roles

Answer 22

• in 1835 was appointed poor law commissioner for the eastern counties and London
• worked hard to establish a public system of elementary education supervised by a board of national inspectors

Question 23

reports on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of Great Britain

Answer 23

• 1842
• started by focusing on London as requested by the Pool Law Commissioners and carried out by PL secretary Chadwick
• in 1839, Sir James Graham (HomeS and prompted by Bishop of London) asked for it to be extended to cover the prevalence of disease in labouring classes throughout the whole country.
• Chadwick’s report was in three volumes
• first two were based on local reports from all over Britain based off questionnaires the third contained his own conclusions and proposals
• straight away the PLC refused publication as it criticised water companies, the medical profession and local administration (naming names)
• 1942 published under his own name and expense

Question 24

what did Chadwick’s report stress?

Answer 24

• attacked the inadequacy if existing water supples, drainage and sewage
• linked public health to poor law
• pointe the finger at vested interests that stood in the way of improvements
• stressed the connection between these vested interests, overcrowding, epidemics and death
• latter point had the greatest impact, he had demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt the link between disease and environment

Question 25

reaction to Chadwick’s report

Answer 25

• ranged from anger to wholehearted acceptance
• James Graham was reluctant to act due to the report being purely private and largely personal
• he set up a royal commission on the health of towns with the purpose to investigate the legislative and financial side of Chadwick’s findings more fully, not to question them
• Chadwick had unofficial meetings with this commission and wrote a report on burial practices.

Question 26

report of the royal commission into the sanitary condition of large towns and populous districts

Answer 26

• 1944
• generated by Chadwick’s
• members of the royal commission into the health of towns were drawn from those who could be expected to know something in the investigative subject
• included geologist, chemist, cotton mill manager and engineers
• questionnaires were sent to 50 towns with the highest annual death rates and official visits made to the worst areas
• first report upheld Chadwick’s finding with 42/50 shown to have bad drainage and 30 bad water supplies
• second report in 1945 contained proposals including a long memorandum from Chadwick

Question 27

what did Chadwick’s memorandum recommend?

Answer 27

• central gov be given extensive powers to inspect and supervise local sanitary work
• local sanitary districts be set up with authority over drainage, sewage, paving and water supplies
• local sanitary districts be given powers to raise money for sanitary schemes through local rates

Question 28

report of the Bradford Woolcombers Sanatory Committee

Answer 28

• 1845
• in the 1840s there were more than 10,000 woolcombers (person who combed fleeces to straighten the fibre and remove lanolin) living and working in their own dwellings
• appalling conditions (average age of death 14)
• in 1945 Bradford Woolcombers formed a Protective society and appointed their own ‘sanitary committee’ to report on the living conditions
• showed the issues of industrialisation in terms of urban dwellings and the use of vacant living space.

Question 29

limitations of reports

Answer 29

• met with opposition and concessions made
• some were local and so provided less of a national reason to reform
• not welcomed by some of the general public making them harder to implement

Question 30

flushing toilets

Answer 30

• water to flush away human waste into rivers an waterways had been in intermittent use since neolithic times
• not until IR that flushing toilets came about
• firs the S-trap was created in 1775 by Alexander Cummings, sealing the toilet bowl and preventing foul air coming up from the sewer
• Joseph Bramah who combined this invention with a float valve system for a cistern to mould the first workable flushing toilet.
• by the end of 1850s, building codes required all new build homes (predominantly for the MC) to be equipped with a water closet

Question 31

flushing toilets - jennings

Answer 31

• George Jennings then established a business manufacturing toilets
• his south western pottery was opened in 1856 and by 1861 was employing 97 men and 18 boys (indicative of immense popularity of these new water closets)
• Jennings granted a patent in 1852 whereby the pan and water trap were constructed in one piece so that a small amount of water retained in the pans
• improved valves and drain taps

Question 32

flushing toilets - Twyford

Answer 32

• in 1875 developed and sold the first wash out trap water closet (immensely popular)
• throughout the 1880s Twyford was granted further patent for his inventions which improved the flushing rim and outlet
• in 1888 applies for a patent whereby the toilet pan was refilled with a small quantity of water (this remained throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Question 33

primitive sewerage

Answer 33

• human and industrial waste piled up on land and rivers offered an easy and cheap solution to the problem of disposal as rivers moved without the expensive installation of a pump
• emptying into the sea meant they were seen as self-cleansing
• belief about miasma made this seem ideal as it removed smells and dirt
• public health requirements encouraged filth not to pile up on sheets and therefore disposals into rivers seemed suitable

Question 34

sewerage developments

Answer 34

• didn’t carry waste effectively due to rough walls, inadequate connections between sewers of different sizes, intermittent volumes of water and inadequate slopes meant solids accumulated and only heavy storms would flush waste away
• flushing gates to control the sewage flow was invented by the engineer John Roe in 1842 whereby cast iron gates were fixed in sewers and only opened when there was a sufficient accumulation of water-borne sewage
• not until the 1870s,80s, combined with hydraulic pumps to ensure a constant flow of water through sewers (effectively making them self flushing)
• construction of an effective sewage system required millions of bricks + cement + transport infrastructure to deliver them where needed.

Question 35

sewerage flushing problems

Answer 35

• discharged, untreated sewerage into the natural water system became more of a problem as disease understanding increased
• Chadwick’s idea of spraying it onto fields as a fertiliser wasn’t well received
• some cities attempting to include sedimentation systems
• breakthrough came in 1912 when scientists at Manchester uni developed the sewage treatment system of activated sludge whereby it was biological treated to make it safe

Question 36

water supply

Answer 36

• provision in the hands of private companies for most of the 19th century
• whether or not the individual companies took advantage of new technology was up to shareholders who in turn were guided by the need to make profit
• some did invest in modernising using the latest equipment and tackling up to date advice

Question 37

examples of water supply in the London area

Answer 37

• 1802 Lambeth waterworks expanded and replaced its wooden pipes with cast iron ones
• 1822 Southwark Water Company extracted water from the river thames using steam engines to pump it to cistern at the top of an 18m high tower before sent to population
• 1829 Chelsea Waterworks company became the first in the country to install a sand filtration system to purify water taken from the river thames
• 1838 Grand Junction Waterworks Company built a pumping station near Kew Bridge at Brentford to house three steam pumps. Water was pumped into filtering reservoirs and a 61m high water tower then used gravity feed to supply the area.

Question 38

further developments in water supply

Answer 38

• as century progressed more water companies built reservoirs to enable a reliable water supply
• a major problem, insofar PH was concerned, was that water companies in London and elsewhere extracted water from rivers that were themselves polluted with industrial and faecal waste
• further change had to wait until the knowledge that disease could be waterborne was combined with the science of removing impurities and the will of the people and the go that this should be done

Question 39

what did technology do?

Answer 39

• provided the ability to reform. all well and good having the motivation but was useless without being able to implement reforms
• no more waste in water where people drunk from
• removes contact with germs

Question 40

Elizabeth Gaskell

Answer 40

• created a vivid pen picture of WC living conditions in mid victorians Britain
• married to a victorians minister, lived in Manchester and although not poor herself witnessed desperate poverty all around her
• wrote about this in her novel ‘Mary Barton’ in 1848
• authors in general helped to raise social concern, helping to change attitudes

Question 41

Arnold Bennet

Answer 41

-at the beginning of the 20th century wrote a series of novels that had the housing and health of the Staffordshire pottery towns as their backdrops

Question 42

Charles dickens

Answer 42

• created vivid pen pictures like Gaskell
• his books were enormously successful reaching a wide readership partly because they were serialised and so made more accessible than if they has been published in single volumes

Question 43

local and national newspapers

Answer 43

• reported PH matters and and commenced on them not always favourably (e.g. typhoid outbreaks) and scarlet fever were reported in localN such as Leeds Mercury
• occasionally connections were made between poor living conditions and disease
• national newspapers had the greatest impact changing attitudes of the elites who could bring change
• The time headed a campaign for effective sewerage in London due to the ‘great stink’

Question 44

artists

Answer 44

• created paintings/ engravings of the poor usually incorporating street scenes and interiors
• rural presented as romantic idylls, urban more disturbing
• this attracted the attention of novelist (e.g. Dickens admired Fildes) and some middle classes hung then on walls for sentimental value

Question 45

doctor, parishes and country councils

Answer 45

• improved record keeping facilities enabling the producing of statistical evidence to illustrate connection
• e.g. population density and disease

Question 46

scientific knowledge

Answer 46

• increased public awareness about disease leading to ideas about clean water and encouraged health and sanitation committees (1844 The Health of Towns association set up in London but branched into more provincial towns)
• had the aim to carry out propaganda campaigns for PH legislation
• members gave lectures, pamphlets and weekly sheets of facts and figures
• gov set up Royal commissions to investigate the living conditions of the poor and authorised a range of investigations during this period

Question 47

economic imperatives

Answer 47

had to be considered in two ways

• the cost of the reforms and the cost of not undertaking the reforms
• the cost of PH reforms could be calculated against the cost of losing a productive worker to one of the dirty diseases
• the way out would involve local authorities taking responsibility for public health and those in the catchment area
• this happened bit very slowly
• derived form having a fit workforce and this was more persuasive than ant moral imperative and a greater proportion of people were set to benefit as the initial investment produced an improve workforce to cover costs of urial outlay
• second boar war also linked to this

Question 48

costs of poor law

Answer 48

• maintenance and administrative costs were escalating
• when local officials set the two costs against each other many could see a reduction in the poor rate occurring as a result of improved drainage and water
• any reduction in rates and taxes would also resonate well

Question 49

which sections of society would be paying

Answer 49

• initially the costs of connection a house to a water supply fell upon the householder
• whilst the MC generally paid out for their own comfort and health it wasn’t clear that they should pay for the poor to have similar facilities
• the landlords of the tenants and lodgings should they be persuaded to link the properties they were letting out to drains and water supplies. rents would inevitably increase and the very poor could no longer pay throwing more into pauperism

Question 50

why did the role of government grow?

Answer 50

• previously gov had been relatively laissez faire and that social policy was the business of parishes
• however, the election of the whig government in 1830 ended 23 years of tory government

Question 51

representation of the people

Answer 51

• 1832
• made some important adjustments to the franchise and to the distribution of seats allowing for greater representation from the growing industrial midlands and northern towns
• expected that attention would be paid after 1832 to the much needed public health reforms in the areas they represented
• however MC representation with a desire to keep rates low meant that sanitary reform was low on MPs agendas and a general feeling that PH reform were the business of local authorities

Question 52

municipal corporations Act

Answer 52

• 1835
• ended the system of closed corporations whereby the same councillors reappointed themselves year on year
• borough councils were to be elected by male ratepayers for a three year term of office
• act stated that councils could if they wished assume control of paving sewerage, street cleaning and drainage in their areas
• even so they still needed a private act of parliament to enable them to do so (by no means cheap to undertake)
• its important to recognise that central go showed little interest in PH
• if town councils wanted to tackle a problem, it was their own affair
• however the fact that councils were to be elected by ratepayers raised the possibility that the more progressive councils would want to focus on PH reforms

Question 53

1840s action after appraisal of sanitary conditions

Answer 53

• 1846 Nuisance Removal Acts that were designed to enable justice by prosecuting those responsible for nuisances.
• Baths and Washhouses Act 1846 enabled local authorities to provide baths and washhouses out of public money
• Town Improvement Clauses act of 1847 defined the rights of towns to lay water supplies and drainage schemes plus controlling nuisances. it also legalised the discharge of siege into rivers and seas and allowed its sale for agricultural purposes

Question 54

what did the early 1840s acts have in common

Answer 54

• they only applied if the authorities wanted them to
• health of town bills were introduced in 1845 and 1847 but were withdrawn.
• an attempt to create a public health bill in 1847 was defeated by MPs who became known as the ‘dirty party’.

Question 55

public health act 1948

Answer 55

• a general board of health was set up which reported to parliament. it was based in London (three original members Lord Morpeth, Lord Shaftsbury and Chadwick.
• chadwick had economic imperatives for the long term ( a large proportion of poor relief had been given to the families of men who died from infectious disease)
• local authorities were empires to set up local boards of health where ten per cent of ratepayers asked of where the death rate was greater than 23/1000 (national average was 21/1000)
• local boards of health could appoint a medical officer of health and pay his wages out of the rates
• local boards of health were to manage drains and sewers, slaughterhouses and wells, burial grounds, baths, parks etc
• local boards of health could finance projects by levying local rates and buying land

Question 56

public health act 1948 successes

Answer 56

• was permissive meaning it only applied to areas that wanted it meaning there was little or no opposition making its implementation relatively smooth
• this also allowed it ti gain popularity in public discourse
• because it applied where conditions were very poor people were desperate for any remedy and were unlikely to put up any serious opposition
• piecemeal implementation meant that those who were suspicious or wary could see for themselves how the act worked to improve PH and would push for introduction in its own cities
• demonstrates gov was prepared to do something and intervene on behalf of society’s most vulnerable
• the first national PHA generate both pressure from he public for further reform and confidence in the legislators that they could deliver.

Question 57

public health act 1948 limitations

Answer 57

• lack of universality as was permissible so didn’t affect the whole of Britain
• didn’t apply to London for example which had its own act in 1948 to establish the metropolitan commissioners of sewers
• nor did it apply to Scotland
• although local boards of health had considerable powers of basic public health they weren’t required to take on wider public health considerations likes baths and parks

Question 58

why was there continued opposition in the 1850s and 60s?

Answer 58

• improvement schemes costs money. Property owners paid for their own drainage and sanitation. they were loath to pay out again via local taxes to have similar facilities for others that they wouldn’t benefit from
• many people felt that government were encroaching on their individual liberties by requiring them to for example whitewash slaughterhouses
• vested interests (e.g. directors of local water companies) were usually on local boards of health and were unlikely to vote for measures that would abate profit
• Civil engineering was in its infancy and was barely understood by lay people causing delay and inappropriate implementation in some cases.
• Chadwick himself irritates and annoyed many because of his bullying tactics.

Question 59

why was there further pressure for change in the 60s and 70s?

Answer 59

• 1867 Parliamentary Reform Act effectively gave the vote to WC men meaning politicians had to pay attention to their problems, inc PH
• third cholera epidemic which killed 20,000
• in 1865 Pasteur conclusively proved that germs caused disease no vice versa
• 1869 Royal Commission on PH set up which revealed that conditions in towns were little better than what Chadwick had been masterminding 30 years earlier
• 1871 Local government Board set up consolidation the authorities of local authorities, the registrar-general’s office, the medical department of the privy council and the PLB

Question 60

local government act and PHA 1858

Answer 60

• general board of health was abolished
• the powers of the general board of health were given to a new local government act office
• a medical department of the privy council was set up
• local boards of health were given powers to take preventative action and appoint officials
• by 1868, 568 towns set up boards of health and began reforming

Question 61

why were the 1858 acts needed so soon after the PHA of 1848?

Answer 61

• the ten years between had shown a gradual acceptance by LA of the need for more powerful local PH bodies
• considerable hostility towards members of the GBH meaning more accepted ways of centralising and controlling PH provisions had to be found
• splitting powers between LGAO andante privy councils medical department was the solution
• previously the GBH had to approve loans to local authorities for PH projects. Now the permission of the LGAO was needed for all loans that local authorities wanted to raise in order to carry our PW
• PrivyC could carry out inspections where reform was involved meaning the central gov as such became involved in PH administration

Question 62

sanitary act

Answer 62

• 1866
• sanitary powers granted to local boards of health under the 1848 act were made more available to all local boards
• local authorities were made responsible for removal of nuisances to PH. If local authorities failed to act, central gov could do the work and charge local authorities
• the definition of a nuisance was extended to domestic properties including overcrowding
• local authorities were given the power to demolish or improve slum dwellings
• for the first time compulsion was a significant element
• not longer did state direct and advise local authorities, it could now compel them to act.

Question 63

John Simon

Answer 63

• key mover for Sanitary act
• became London’s first medical officer of health in 1848
• 1858 became first medical officer to the Privy council
• worked within the permissive framework set up in 1848 act seeking to persuade local authorises
• sanitary act was a direct consequence of his 1865 report
• initially had been a firm supporter of the miasma theory but soon changed to the germ theory as more evidence became available
• simon therefore helps transform PH form a political matter to one founded in scientific investigation and analysis
• also contributed to PUHC of 1875

Question 64

PHA 1875

Answer 64

• most comprehensive legislation to date, consolidating previous laws
• remained the foundation of all PH work until 1936
• every part of the country had to have a PH authority
• every public health authority had to have at least one medical officer and one sanitary inspector to ensure that laws on food adulteration housing and water supply were enforced
• local authorities were given wide powers to lay sewers and drains, build reservoirs, parks and public conveniences

Question 65

PHA 1875 positives

Answer 65

• gov now completely committed to improving PH provision
• turning point in the regulations of house building in British cities
• by permitting sanitary authorities to make laws that controlled building standards and plans they were able to lay down such things as street widths and the provision of open space

Question 66

PHA 1936

Answer 66

• consolidated legislation and addressed issues such as sanitation, nuisances, offensive trades, washhouses and disease
• local authorities had immediate responsibility of these issues
• extended by the food and drugs act 1938 control over slaughterhouses and food adulteration were added to their responsibilities

Question 67

PHA 1936 - sanitation and water supply

Answer 67

• LA aimed to ensure an adequate supply of water and efficient sewerage
• the years 1919-39 local authorities took over control of water supplies with complex systems like pipelines, reservoirs and treatment centres
• by 1935, 80% of the pop in England and Wales was supplied with water from LAs
• water was generally safe although there were some typhoid epidemics in Bournemouth and Dorset in 1936 caused by sewerage contamination
• this demonstrated that there was still work to do in the area

Question 68

overall

Answer 68

• more form individualist approach to collectivism (belief that the state had primary responsibility for its citizens welfare)
• replaced laissez faire on earlier years yet this change was slow moving and was a pragmatic evolution of new legislative and administrative practices.